Heavy Gear, 2nd edition by Dream Pod 9
Jul. 31st, 2025 09:04 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
james_davis_nicoll
Four thousand years in the future, nations contend for dominance of a desolate world.
Heavy Gear, 2nd edition by Philippe R. Boulle, Jean Carrières, Élie Charest, Jean Marcil, Guy-Francis Vella & Marc A. Vézina et al
July 2025 in Review
Jul. 31st, 2025 08:57 amjames_davis_nicoll
23 works reviewed. 12 by women (52%), 10 by men (43%),1 by non-binary authors (4%), 0 by authors whose gender is unknown (0%), and 11 by POC (48%).
July 2025 in Review
Hypothetically speaking
Jul. 30th, 2025 04:00 pmjames_davis_nicollIf someone asked for a list of issues with the Reactor site, what would be your top five? Not counting search. Assume search will be mentioned.
Bundle of Holding: BattleTech Shrapnel 2
Jul. 30th, 2025 03:16 pmjames_davis_nicoll
11 digital issues of The Official BattleTech Magazine from Catalyst Game Labs, Shrapnel.
Bundle of Holding: BattleTech Shrapnel 2
Mr. Villain’s Day Off, volume 1 by Yuu Morikawa
Jul. 30th, 2025 08:59 amjames_davis_nicoll
One day the General will be victorious. Earth will be his! Humanity will be exterminated!
However, today is the General’s day off.
Mr. Villain’s Day Off, volume 1 by Yuu Morikawa
Bundle of Holding: Apocalisse & Inferno
Jul. 28th, 2025 02:02 pmjames_davis_nicoll
English-language ebooks of Apocalisse and Inferno, the Acheron Games campaign settings based on the Book of Revelation and the Divine Comedy for Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition and compatible systems.
Bundle of Holding: Apocalisse & Inferno
Jumping Jet Packs! Five Stories From the Golden Age of Personal Flying Devices
Jul. 28th, 2025 12:02 pmjames_davis_nicoll
Surely we should all have harness copters by now?
Jumping Jet Packs! Five Stories From the Golden Age of Personal Flying Devices
Clarke Award Finalists 2007
Jul. 28th, 2025 09:36 amjames_davis_nicoll2007: The Blair government is rocked by rumours of Tory-style corruption, Matty Hull’s killers escape justice and are free to kill again, while the global financial markets to which the UK belongs are absolutely secure and in no way headed for a shocking correction.
Bold for have read, italic for intend to read, underline for never heard of it.
Which 2007 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?
Nova Swing by M. John Harrison
End of the World Blues by Jon Courtenay Grimwood
Gradisil by Adam Roberts
Hav by Jan Morris
Oh Pure and Radiant Heart by Lydia Millet
Streaking by Brian Stableford
Poll #33435 Clarke Award Finalists 2007
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 14
Which 2007 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?
View Answers
Nova Swing by M. John Harrison
9 (64.3%)
End of the World Blues by Jon Courtenay Grimwood
3 (21.4%)
Gradisil by Adam Roberts
3 (21.4%)
Hav by Jan Morris
7 (50.0%)
Oh Pure and Radiant Heart by Lydia Millet
0 (0.0%)
Streaking by Brian Stableford
0 (0.0%)
Bold for have read, italic for intend to read, underline for never heard of it.
Which 2007 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?
Nova Swing by M. John Harrison
End of the World Blues by Jon Courtenay Grimwood
Gradisil by Adam Roberts
Hav by Jan Morris
Oh Pure and Radiant Heart by Lydia Millet
Streaking by Brian Stableford
Reforming the WSFS committee elections
Jul. 26th, 2025 04:07 pmjames_davis_nicollThe quoted material below is quoted material.
I wrote in 2022 that the election system used by WSFS should be changed. At present, the rules for electing the Mark Protection Committee, the body charged with ensuring that the intellectual property of WSFS is protected, are set out in Standing Rule 6.2:
Voting shall be by written preferential ballot with write-in votes allowed. Votes for write-in candidates who do not submit written consent to nomination to the Presiding Officer before the close of balloting shall be ignored. The ballot shall list each nominee’s name. The first seat filled shall be by normal preferential ballot procedures as defined in Section 6.4 of the WSFS Constitution. There shall be no run-off candidate. After a seat is filled, votes for the elected member shall be eliminated before conducting the next ballot. This procedure shall continue until all seats are filled. In the event of a first-place tie for any seat, the tie shall be broken unless all tied candidates can be elected simultaneously. Should there be any partial-term vacancies on the committee, the partial-term seat(s) shall be filled after the full-term seats have been filled.
I warned that this carries the risk that a single faction with roughly half of the total votes could win every single seat and squeeze out other viewpoints.
My warning has come dramatically true.
Books Received, July 19 to July 25
Jul. 26th, 2025 09:13 amjames_davis_nicoll
Eight works new to me. Mostly novels but there are two tabletop roleplaying rule books in there. Four are fantasies (including the ttrpgs), one seems to be horror, one non-fiction, and two are SF. Four could be said to be series books and other four appear to be stand-alone.
Books Received, July 19 to July 25
Poll #33429 Books Received, July 19 to July 25
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 57
Which of these look interesting?
View Answers
Stone and Sky by Ben Aaronovitch (July 2025)
34 (59.6%)
The Adventure of the Demonic Ox by Lois McMaster Bujold (July 2025)
33 (57.9%)
They Call Her Regret by Channelle Desamours (February 2026)
4 (7.0%)
Sky on Fire by E. K. Johnston (July 2025)
15 (26.3%)
The Rainseekers by Matthew Kressel (February 2026)
10 (17.5%)
Warhammer: the Old World Roleplaying Game, Gamemaster’s Guide by Dominic McDowall and Pádraig Murphy et al (Q1 2026)
4 (7.0%)
Warhammer: the Old World Roleplaying Game, Player’s Guideby Dominic McDowall and Pádraig Murphy et al (Q1 2026)
4 (7.0%)
Starlost Unauthorized by D G Valdron (October 2024)
18 (31.6%)
Some other option (see comments)
0 (0.0%)
Cats!
36 (63.2%)
The Whisperer in White by Y. R. Liu
Jul. 25th, 2025 08:52 amjames_davis_nicoll
A young hunter's carelessly loosed arrow earns her imprisonment under the supervision of a mage.
The Whisperer in White by Y. R. Liu
Astounding by Alec Nevala-Lee
Jul. 24th, 2025 09:07 amjames_davis_nicoll
A look at four men (and the women in their lives) who shaped American SF.
Astounding: John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, and the Golden Age of Science Fiction by Alec Nevala-Lee
Bundle of Holding: Neon Lords
Jul. 23rd, 2025 02:16 pmjames_davis_nicoll
The all-new Neon Lords Bundle featuring Neon Lords of the Toxic Wasteland, the gonzo slime-punk post-apocalyptic cassette-future tabletop roleplaying game from Super Savage Systems.
Bundle of Holding: Neon Lords
Five SFF Stories About Editing and Storing Memories
Jul. 23rd, 2025 10:01 amjames_davis_nicoll
From magical memory wipes to space-based mind erasure...
Five SFF Stories About Editing and Storing Memories
The Color of the End: Mission in the Apocalypse, volume 1 by Haruo Iwamune
Jul. 23rd, 2025 09:05 amjames_davis_nicoll
Fifty years after the Great Disaster, special investigator Saya searches for survivors. There are a few... but none are human.
The Color of the End: Mission in the Apocalypse, volume 1 by Haruo Iwamune
Tarnsman of Gor (Gor, volume 1) by John Norman
Jul. 22nd, 2025 08:59 amjames_davis_nicoll
In this ERB pastiche, unremarkable academic Tarl Cabot reinvents himself as a man of action on the counter-Earth, Gor. There's much less BDSM than the series' reputation would lead one to expect.
Tarnsman of Gor (Gor, volume 1) by John Norman